Jewish Boy Aboard Strafed Van Dies

NEW YORK — A Hasidic Jew who was left brain-dead after a man opened fire on a van full of rabbinical students died Saturday, a spokeswoman at St. Vincent's Hospital said.

Aaron Halberstam, 16, was one of four students wounded Tuesday on the Brooklyn Bridge when a gunman opened fire on their van. Rashad Baz, 28, has been charged with 15 counts of attempted murder and is being held without bond.

Halberstam was among hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Lubavitcher Hasidic Jews who traveled from the borough of Brooklyn on Tuesday to pray for the sect's 91-year-old spiritual leader, Menachem Schneerson, who had undergone cataract surgery at a hospital in Manhattan.

A gunman strafed the van with bullets as it carried about 15 students back to Brooklyn.